Kid Auto Races at Venice (1914)

You won't be disappointed!

Slow pace in the most part of the movie.

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

Although the gag gets tedious, I found myself giggling quite a bit at this short, credited as the first appearance of Chaplin's Tramp. There is an auto race at the track, and a crowd is gathered, as are cameramen to document the event for the newsreels. A man become curious about the cameras and begins hamming it up for them. We see this even now when people make fools of themselves for the news cameras, so it is a timeless gag.Chaplin went on to be one of the most influential film makers of all time, a true genius on the screen and this is our first glimpse at the character the world came to love.

But this short film has no chance of making the podium. It's basically slightly more than six (in the original version even eleven) minutes of the Tramp basically getting in the way of everything and everybody: watching bystanders, photographers, race-cars.It gets repetitive pretty quickly and you have to be a huge Chaplin fanatic in order to see the good in this film. Maybe the reason for this lacking the usual charm of the Chaplin movies was that this one was neither written nor directed by the master himself, but by notable silent film director Henry Lehrman, who also took the chance to star alongside Chaplin in a film that gave birth to one of the most notable characters in movie history: The Tramp. Getting started is the hardest part and just like with the cars in "Kid Auto Races at Venice" it proves true and a challenging effort to get the motor going. I think we can forgive him for this one as the majority of what he came up with in the next 25 years purrs like a kitten to this day.

...But To Be Honest I Don't Particularly Care. After I Saw "The Kid", "The Gold Rush" & "City Lights" I Must've Gone On A Chaplin Craze. I Went To See This. This Movie Overall Doesn't Have Much In The Way Of Laughs...No Let Me Clarify That This Movie Doesn't Have ANYTHING In The Way Of Laughs. This Would Only Be Watched By People Who Are Chaplin Fans & Want To Honestly Say "Yep I've Seen The Tramp's First Appearance On Screen" But To Your Average Joe To Charles Chaplin Movies This Movie Overall (At The Risk Of Sounding Unoriginal) Sucks.The Plot Is Where Chaplin Walks In The Way Of The Auto-Race & Gets Hit & Told To Go Back To His Seat. This Tramp Is Not The Same Character! The Tramp In The Full Length Movies Is Kind & Somewhat Lovable. This One Is Crude & Somewhat Someone That You Never Want To Meet. Overall I Hated This Movie & Nobody Should Ever Have To See It.

Kid Auto Races in Venice is historical in that it marks Charlie Chaplin's first appearance as The Tramp. In this short film, The Tramp is a spectator in a soap box derby race that is being filmed. Throughout the short, Charlie keeps getting in front of the camera and getting pushed off by either the cameraman or other spectators. In addition, he almost gets knocked off by some of the kid racers! Obviously not much to mention of the plot of this six minute short but for some reason I was constantly amused by Chaplin's constant wandering in and out of the path of where the race cars were going as well as the cameraman's attempts to get him out of the way. Worth a look for film history buffs and the easily amused.